Archive for July, 2011

I’ve created a small demo version of Six Gun Saga and uploaded it to my amazon aws account for download. It allows you to play against a single AI on the shortest turn length setting (15 turns). That’s basically the trainer mode. The Weird West content is not included. I’ve also just gone and placed it in a folder in a simple zip file instead of making an install package. You can just download the file and unzip it to your desktop and run it from the folder by double clicking on the SixGunSaga.exe file.

Looks like I picked a bad week to stop sniffing glue. If you downloaded the new version in the last few hours I apologize but you will need to redownload the new 1.06a version. It seems that I forgot to uncomment some code and it will cause problems with some posse movement orders.

So 1.06a is the version to have. Thanks to the vigilant Mr. D for the early adopter warning.

Update 1.06 Beta is now available. There are new art assets as well as data files so you will need to uninstall the old version and then download and install the new 1.06 version.

New Content: Weird West Story Cards
During the start game setup menu you now have a check box to enable the inclusion of 4 Weird West story cards and their guardians. The rules for these cards are a little different than your normal story cards.

– Each card can be entered by any posse that a player controls
– Each card has a powerful unique guardian that will defend the story card. When a player moves a posse onto the story card there is a 50% chance that a guardian will attack that posse
– If a posse wins the poker hand and survives any wounds that the guardian might deal then the posse remains on the story card after the gun battle
– Guardians never retreat anywhere. They simply go back into hiding.
– Guardians can be destroyed and their VP value is awarded to the player who destroys them
– Guardians each have a unique effect that is triggered when they wound a dude
– If a posse is not attacked or survives the encounter with the guardian then it will remain on the story card until the player hits the “Draw Cards” button to advance to the draw phase
– If a posse is on the story card when the draw phase occurs it gains a bonus that is described on the story card info. It is also awarded a set amount of VP’s that are also detailed on the story card info. Finally the posse is returned to the corresponding player base card and now can be accessed by the posses belonging to other players. The posse MAY move the following turn.

After Sundown

Chance Vampire Attack 50%: Any posse that moves onto this story card has a 50% chance of being attacked by a vampireSurvival Bonus: The player who occupies this story card draws 2 bonus cards into his hand during their draw phaseSurvival VP Award: The player who occupies this story card during their draw phase gains 2 VP’s and the posse is returned to its player base cardWound Effect: A dude wounded by a vampire has his upkeep increased by 1Special Ability: The vampire regenerates all wounds between player turns.

The Lost Valley

Chance Dinosaur Attack 50%: Any posse that moves onto this story card has a 50% chance of being attacked by pack of VelociraptorsSurvival Bonus: Dudes in a posse occupying this story card during their draw phase have a 50% chance of gaining 2 max wound pointsSurvival VP Award: The player who occupies this story card during their draw phase gains 3 VP’s and the posse is returned to its player base cardWound Effect: Any wounds inflicted by a dinosaur are permanent

Roswell

Chance Alien Attack 50%: Any posse that moves onto this story card has a 50% chance of being attacked by an alienSurvival Bonus: Dudes in a posse occupying this story card during their draw phase have a 50% chance of gaining 2 gun fight pointsSurvival VP Award: The player who occupies this story card during their draw phase gains 2 VP’s and the posse is returned to its player base cardWound Effect: When a dude is wounded any amount by an alien, the controlling player loses 1 VP

Missing Settlers

Chance Skin Walker Attack 50%: Any posse that moves onto this story card has a 50% chance of being attacked by an skin walkerSurvival Bonus: If a player occupies this story card during their draw phase then a random townsfolk belonging to one of his opponents is killedSurvival VP Award: The player who occupies this story card during their draw phase gains 3 VP’s and the posse is returned to its player base cardWound Effect: A dude wounded by a skin walker loses 1 gunfight point

UI improvement:
– Each boss now has a small wanted poster on their player base card that displays their VP total for easy reference
– Hole cards attached to posses are now hidden from opponents until the gun battle commences

AI improvements:
– AI players will now give more weight to hiring townsfolk who provide VP or cash bonuses when players are sent to boot hill.
– AI now includes fuzzy logic approach to simulating hidden holes cards when attempting to gauge chances of success in gun battles
– Improved AI resource management so that less dead end posses are created that have low chance of expanding in size to include more dudes
– Improved AI card cash in algorithm to include long term AI goals on the goal stack

Surprise! Well probably not a surprise for most of you. I’m going to extend the beta buy in a little while longer while I am working on 1.06. I’ve got one extra module that I am trying to implement which is an optional group of story cards that you can add to your game that brings a slight Weird West flavor to the play. The concept is not very original for me… in fact it’s just like Cults of the Wastelands for my Armageddon Empires game. Each Weird West story card (there are only 4) has an “independent” posse on it that must first be defeated by a player/AI posse before it can have its VP’s taken.

I know there has been a lot of discussion about gun battle resolution and some players would prefer a more interactive/reactive type of combat resolution. I’ve given it some thought and at this point I’m not really eager to start down that road. I am toying around with incorporating a system of cards that can be played to place combat modifiers on hole cards played to a posse. Right now I’m calling them Edges ala The Outlaw Josey Whales and a slew of other game systems. They would add mechanics modifiers like ensuring that both sides take some damage, or some damage is negated etc. If I get this implemented then it will be a ways off. I’d like to get some unique art for each of the Edges. So don’t anyone take this as a promise on the Edge system. If just thinking out loud here. 🙂